deuddersun says...

Tribute:

Deuddersun has a tribute to the eight Marines killed in Iraq this weekend. In it, he invokes both Odin and the Christian God.

I have noticed that this is not uncommon among Marines. I do it myself.

The thing everybody knows about St. George is that he killed a dragon. The "Golden Legend" about him is all you need to know:

Several stories have been attached to Saint George, the best known of which is the Golden Legend. In it, a dragon lived in a lake near Silena, Libya. Whole armies had gone up against this fearce creature, and had gone down in painful defeat. The monster ate two sheep each day; when mutton was scarce, lots were drawn in local villages, and maidens were substituted for sheep. Into this country came Saint George. Hearing the story on a day when a princess was to be eaten, he crossed himself, rode to battle against the serpent, and killed it with a single blow with his lance. George then held forth with a magnificent sermon, and converted the locals. Given a large reward by the king, George distributed it to the poor, then rode away.

Due to his chivalrous behavior (protecting women, fighting evil, dependence on faith and might of arms, largesse to the poor), devotion to Saint George became popular in the Europe after the 10th century. In the 15th century his feast day was as popular and important as Christmas. Many of his areas of patronage have to do with life as a knight on horseback. The celebrated Knights of the Garter are actually Knights of the Order of Saint George.

The actual St. George was tortured and beheaded about AD 304.

This is one way in which the old heathen traditions have survived in the Christian faith. The great legend of St. George has its roots in the heroic tradition of the North, traditions made better by the Christian influence. Those traditions took generosity and courage, and added chivalry and gentleness with the weak.

In a great but largely unknown piece of Western literature, Fritz Leiber's Lean Times in Lankhmar, this process is playfully but insightfully laid bare:

As delivered over and over by [northern barbarian] Fafhrd, the History of Issek of the Jug gradually altered... into something considerably more like the saga of a Northern hero, though toned down in some respects. Issek had not slain dragons and other monsters as a child -- that would have been against hi Creed -- he had only sported with them.... Issek had expired quite quickly, though with some kindly parting admonitions, after being disjointed on the rack. Fafhrd's Issek (now the Issek) had broken seven racks before he began seriously to weaken.

Is this something a good Christian should be bothered by? I don't think so.

There are generations of precedent. The good monks and friars of old had to deal with these heroic figures of old. Were they real? If they were, what was their nature? Only a few argued that they were demons (although Odin-as-demon makes an appearance in St. Olav's Saga -- ironic, since no saint has inherited more old divine stories than has St. Olav, whose legends sound very much like Thor's).

More of these sages argued that the old gods were kings, or heroes, who had been endowed by time and imagination with great stories until they were regarded as something like gods. (This approach is called euhemerism, after Euhemerus, a Greek philosopher who favored it for his own gods.) People carried on sacrificing to the old kings and heroes, in the belief that those great ones wielded power in this world and the next.

Fine... but what are saints, except kings and heroes, who wield power to aid in this world and the next?

Step forward now, O' Devil-Dog,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?

The Marine squared his shoulders,
said, No, Lord, I guess I ain't,
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint.